Mud-Walkers Make a Sport of Muck; Hiking on New Level
Is Dutch Pastime

By

Sarah E. Richards Special to The Wall Street Journal

Updated July 16, 1999 5:01 p.m. ET

PIETERBUREN, the Netherlands -- Take more than 100 rowdy Dutch nearly all wearing the same fake Converse-brand high-top sneakers -- walking straight out to sea through mud so high it covers almost a third of their legs.

Add a boat ride and several shots of beerenburg, a regional liquor made from herbs that no Dutch person can seem to identify, and you have one of the Netherlands' most popular summer sports.